I've been diagonised with tendonitis in both knees for well over a year now. In the begining I was seeing a physio 3 times a week getting massages of both my ITB and the tendon, acupuncture, and ultra-sound treatment. Which did perceivably stopped the symptoms. After about 6 months of being on "return to running" programs and relentess physio I was offered surgury, which seemed ridiculas because all they wanted to do was cut away some of my ITB to free it up. Obvisouly i said No.

Now, nearly a year has passed, admittidly it is'nt as bad as it was then but its not getting better. On rare occasion i play soccer, and run at least once a week. After running my knees become slighly inflammed and after soccer I get brusies top left (see attached picture).

I've tried not doing anything for 2 months and when I tried to go for a easy jog it I felt like I'm back where I've started.

For a while now I've just been dealing with it, using the old RICE technique. But surely there has to be an answer?

Attached is a photo of my knees whilst standing on a flat surface, which some arrows to show where I get brusies and where i get pain in the front of my knees.

All I can offer right now is my sympathy. I'm working with a nasty tendinitis of my left shoulder and left elbow. I'm in a lot of pain a lot of the time, and my range of motion in that arm is really limited. It's been about six months of acute symptoms now.

The best thing I've found for my elbows is ice directly on the skin. There is an article on TNation that advocates eccentric exercises for rehab.
Other than that I've tried- self massage, herbs- Ruta Grav and Arnica, stretching and rest.
I slacked off on the stretching, ice and eccentrics and have occasional flare ups. My experience is with elbow tendinitis. Hope you find a solution.
How are your shoes? Have you ever looked into barefoot running?

I'm no expert whatsoever but am a fellow sufferer of patellar tendinitis. From my experience, here's what I've learned and what I notice.

From your photo, your legs appear knock-kneed. Maybe it's the angle, but your knees look like they come in together at the knee. I wonder if that's something that causes stress/pressure when you're loading your quads.

Weakness in VMO? Or, after patellar tendinitis flared up, beginning relative weakness in VMO? If so, apart from masking the symptoms (RICE) which are helpful, building up the weak VMO muscle by...

My other advice based solely on a post on an Internet forum from someone I don't know and have never seen:

Quit running!

Tendinitis is an over use injury. Running is repetitive. There may be a connection here... Now I understand you may be one of those few people who actually enjoy running ( )- but it is probably not helping. Plus there are many ways to stay in similar condition.

For example. I never run. Yet I maintain a less then 5min mile easily, and a 5k in less then 20min. Not outstanding times, but good enough. How? Burpees I guess. Maybe all the pistols? Sprints? definitely! Cindy? Mary? I don't really know- but it works. My point being, running isn't necessary if you program right. I would advise finding exercises (or pairs and triplets of exercises) that will keep you at the same level minus all the wear and tear.

are you applying self-massage for possible trigger points? In your case, the quadriceps (all three parts) would be a likely candidate for massage.

You should try it, it will definitively aid in the process of getting rid of the inflammation and reducing pain. Of course, as long as you have acute symptoms of a real inflammation (swelling and continuous pain), take some anti-inflammatories (e.g., ibuprofen) and apply RICE. However, this phase (calming down inflammation) should not take longer than 2 weeks if you rest properly. If the swelling persists for more than 2 weeks, go to a medical doctor and get a real checkup including MRI scan to find any structural defects.